Bellator still trying to figure out what to do with Eddie Alvarez

Eddie Alvarez is one of the top fighters in the world who does not call the UFC his home. Instead, Alvarez is a member of the Bellator roster. However, his contract is set to expire before the end of the year leaving many to feel like his future is in the UFC.

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney has remained quiet for the most part in regards to the contract talks with Alvarez, but did open up a little during a recent interview with MMAWeekly.

“We’re talking to him. We’ll see what happens,” Rebney said. “We may cut a deal with Ed. We may not cut a deal with Ed. We’ve got about another five months left on our current relationship with Ed and another fight, so we may do another fight with Ed.”

Alvarez has been fighting for Bellator since 2009. He dropped the lightweight title to Michael Chandler last year in an epic encounter but has rebounded to defeat Shinya Aoki, avenging one of his past defeats in the process.

“Eddie’s been awesome with Bellator,” added Rebney of Alvarez’s accomplishments. “I honored my promise to him and I got him the Aoki fight that I had been promising him for about three years. He performed like a superstar in that fight.”

He lost to Chandler but then rebounded with a win over a top LW, and being a former champion I dont see why they wouldnt give him a rematch as it could do huge numbers, BUT thats only if he signs a new contract as Bellator does not need another champion leaving.

I like how Bellator does the tourney for all there championship fights. I dont consider there belts weight class belts but tourney belts. And I’m cool with them not giving him a shot at the LW belt without going through the tourney again. Look at the UFC LW belt over the past several years.
That said. They could still do a “superfight” without putting the belt on the line like they’ve done countless times with every other weight class. Yes, there’s a possibility that Eddy could win and then the LW belt becomes meaningless, but that’s why I think of them as Tourney belts. And they’ve already had that happen in their LHW division.
I say give him the rematch, don’t put the belt on the line and part as friends.

There’s no way Bellator does the rematch, even non-title. If they’re going to stick to their guns, about having to win tournaments to get title shots, they can’t give on this. In accordance with that, even a non-title rematch is a bad idea; unless they convince Eddie to do the tournament or figure something else out, if he wins, then he’s leaving after beating one of their champions.

Seems like an awkward situation that can only end with one more “super fight” and Eddie heads off to Zuffa.